1. KARL RAHNER (1904-1984): THEOLOGICAL WRITINGS

 

Karl Rahner, Foundations of Christian Faith: An Introduction to the Idea of Christianity [Grundkurs des Glaubens: Einführung in den Begriff des Christentums, 1976], trans. William V. Dych (New York: Crossroad / Herder, 1983).  Karl Rahner is widely acknowledged as the greatest Catholic theologian of the 20th century. He was a German Jesuit who, over the course of his career, wrote on an astonishing range of topics of Christian life, devotion, and thought.  Towards the end of his life, he put together Foundations, which offers something of an overview of his thought and serves as an entry into his more profound meditations.  Given the difficulty of his style, it is probably best to read studies about him at the same time.

Karl Rahner, Theological Investigations [Schriften zur Theologie, 1954-1984], 23 volumes (New York: Crossroads, 1960-1992).  Rahner is usually described as a “systematic theologian,” and while he does use a coherent philosophic framework, his actual theological method is more tentative and piecemeal.  “Investigations” is the best way to describe his probings and explorations.  Over the course of his career, he gathered these essays in a vast assembly of books under the rubric of Theological Investigations.  Here are the collections:

• Vol. 1: God, Christ, Mary, and Grace, trans. Cornelius Ernst (1965)

• Vol. 2: Man in the Church, trans. Karl Kruger (1963)

• Vol. 3: The Theology of the Spiritual Life, trans. Karl & Boniface Kruger (1967)

• Vol. 4: More Recent Writings, trans. Kevin Smyth (1966)

• Vol. 5: Later Writings, trans. Karl Kruger (1965)

• Vol. 6: Concerning Vatican II, trans. Karl & Boniface Kruger (1969)

• Vol. 7-8: Further Theology of the Spiritual Life, trans. David Bourke (1971)

• Vol. 9-10: Writings of 1965-67, trans. Graham Harrison (1972-1973)

• Vol. 11-12: Confrontations, trans. David Bourke (1974)

• Vol. 13: Theology, Anthropology, Christology, trans. David Bourke (1975)

• Vol. 14: Ecclesiology: Questions in the Church, The Church in the World (1974)

• Vol. 15: Penance in the Early Church, trans. Lionel Swain (1982)

• Vol. 16: Experience of the Spirit, trans. David Morland (1979)

• Vol. 17: Jesus, Man, and The Church, trans. Margaret Kohl (1981)

• Vol. 18: God and Revelation, trans. Edward Quinn (1983)

• Vol. 19: Faith and Ministry, trans. Edward Quinn (1983)

• Vol. 20: Concern for the Church, trans. Edward Quinn (1981)

• Vol. 21. Science and Christian Faith, trans. Hugh M. Riley (1988)

• Vol. 22: Humane Society and the Church of Tomorrow, trans. J. Donceel (1992)

• Vol. 23: Final Writings, trans. Joseph Donceel & Hugh M. Riley (1992)

Karl Rahner, Hearer of the Word: Laying the Foundation for a Philosophy of  Religion [Horer des Wortes: Zur Grundlegung einer Religionsphilosophie, 1941], trans. Joseph Donceel (New York: Continuum, 1994).

Karl Rahner, The Practice of Faith: A Handbook of Contemporary Spirituality [Praxis des Glauben] (New York: Crossroad, 1983).

Karl Rahner, Spirit in the World [Geist in Welt, 1939], trans. William Dych (New York: Continuum, 1994).

Karl Rahner, The Shape of the Church to Come [Strukturwandel der Kirche als Aufgabe und Chance, 1974], trans. Edward Quinn (New York: Crossroad, 1983)

Karl Lehmann & Albert Raffelt, ed., The Content of Faith: The Best of Karl Rahner’s Theological Writings, trans. Harvey Egan (New York: Crossroad, 1993).

Paul Imhof & Hubert Biallowuns, eds., Faith in a Wintry Season: Conversations and Interviews with Karl Rahner in the Last Years of His Life  [Glaube in winterlicher Zeit: Gesprache mit Karl Rahner aus den letzten Lebenjahren], trans. Harvey Egan (New York: Crossroads, 1990). 

  

William Dych, Karl Rahner, Outstanding Christian Thinkers Series (reprint: New York: Continuum, 2000).

Harvey D. Egan, Karl Rahner: The Mystic of Everyday Life, Crossroad Spiritual Legacy Series (New York: Crossroad, 1998).

Philip Endean, Karl Rahner and Ignatian Spirituality, Oxford Theological Monographs (New York: Oxford University Press, 2001).

Stephen Fields, Being as Symbol: On the Origins and Development of Karl Rahner’s Metaphysics (Washington, DC: Georgetown, 2000).

Mark F. Fischer, The Foundations of Karl Rahner: A Paraphrase of the Foundations of Christian Faith (New York: Crossroad, 2005).

Geffrey B. Kelly, ed., Karl Rahner: Theologian of the Graced Search For Meaning, The Making of Modern of Modern Theology (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1992).

Karen Kilby, Karl Rahner: Theology and Philosophy (New York: Routledge, 2004).

Richard Lennan, The Ecclesiology of Karl Rahner (New York: Oxford University Press, 1995).

Anton Losinger, The Anthropological Turn: The Human Orientation of the Theology of Karl Rahner, trans. Daniel Dahlstrom (New York: Fordham University Press, 2000).

Morwenna Ludlow, Universal Salvation: Eschatology in the Thought of Gregory of Nyssa and Karl Rahner, Oxford Theological Monographs (New York: Oxford University Press, 2001).

Russell R. Reno, The Ordinary Transformed: Karl Rahner and the Christian Vision of Transcendence (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1995).

Michael Skelley, The Liturgy of the World: Karl Rahner’s Theology of Worship (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 1991).

Herbert Vorgrimler, Understanding Karl Rahner: An Introduciton to His Life and Thought (New York: Crossroad, 1986).

 

 3. YVES CONGAR (1904-1996)

 

Yves Congar, Tradition and Traditions: An Historical and a Theological Essay [La tradition et les traditions, vol. 1: Essai historique, 1960; vol. 2: Essai théologique, 1963], trans. Michael Naseby & Thomas Rainborough (London: Burns and Oates, 1966; reprint, Basilica Press, 1997).  Yves Congar (1904-1996) was a French Dominican who spent his career before the Council tracing the history of ecclesiology.  Perhaps more than any other single thinker, Congar paved the way for the thinking of Vatican II—focused as it was on formulating a coherent and many-sided theology of Church.  Congar, in particular, laid the groundwork for the theology of collegiality and of ecumenism; he pioneered a theology of the laity; and in this massive study he radically rethought the subtle, intricate, and intimate relationship between Scripture, Church and Tradition (and in so doing shaped the theology found in the Council’s Constitution Dei Verbum).

Yves Congar, My Journal of the Council (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2012) hardcover, $70. NEW.  As we approach the 50th anniversary of Vatican II, it is especially appropriate to have the first English translation of the private journals of one of the major architects of Vatican II.

Yves Congar, Divided Christendom: A Catholic Study of the Problem of Reunion [Chrétiens desunis, 1937], trans. M.A. Bousefield (London: G. Bles, 1939).

Yves Congar, The Mystery of the Church [Esquisses du mystère de l’Église, 1941, rev ed. 1953], trans. A.V. Littledale (Baltimore: Helicon, 1960).

Yves Congar, True and False Reform in the Church [Vraie et fausse réforme dans l’Eglise, 1950 trans. Paul Philibert (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2011).  It took nearly 60 years to get this into English translation--one of the most controversial and important theological works of the last century.

Yves Congar, Lay People in the Church: A Study of the Theology of the Laity [Jalons pour une théologie du laïcat, 1953, rev. ed. 1964] trans. Donald Attwater (Westminster: Newman, 1957, 1965).

Yves Congar, The Mystery of the Temple [Le mystère du Temple 1958, rev. ed. 1963], trans. Reginald Trevett (Westminster: Newman Press, 1962).

Yves Congar, Dialogue Between Christians [Chrétiens en dialogue: Contributions catholiques a l’oecuménisme, 1964], trans. Philip Loretz (London: G. Chapman, 1966).

Yves Congar, I Believe in the Holy Spirit [Je Crois en l’Esprit Saint, 1979], Milestones in Catholic Theology, trans. David Smith (New York: Crossroad / Herder, 1997).

Yves Congar, At the Heart of Christian Worship: Liturgical Essays of Yves Congar, trans. Paul Philibert (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2010).

Paul Lakeland, ed., Yves Congar: Essential Writings, series: Modern Spiritual Masters (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2010).

 

Studies:

Victor Dunne, Prophecy in the Church: The Vision of Yves Congar, Europaische Hochschulschriften, Reihe 23, Theologie, Bd. 691 (New York: Peter Lang, 2000).

Gabriel Flynn, Yves Congar's Vision of the Church in a World of Unbelief (Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2004).

Gabriel Flynn, Yves Congar: Theologian of the Church, Louvain Theological & Pastoral Monographs (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2006).

Elizabeth Groppe, Yves Congar's Theology of the Spirit, American Academy of Religion (New York: Oxford University Press, 2004).

Joseph A. Komonchak, “A Hero of Vatican II: Yves Congar,” Commonweal 122.21 (Dec. 1, 1995) 15-17.

Richard McBrien, “Church and Ministry: The Achievement of Yves Congar,” Theology Digest 32 (1985) 203-211.

Jürgen Mettepenningen, Nouvelle Theologie - New Theology: Inheritor of Modernism, Precursor Vatican II (New York: T&T Clark, 2010).

Aidan Nichols, Yves Congar, Outstanding Christian Thinkers Series (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 1989).

Anthony Oelrich, A Church Fully Engaged: Yves Congar’s Vision of Ecclesial Authority (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2011).

Paul J. Philibert, “Yves Congar: Theologian, Ecumenist, and Visionary,” U.S. Catholic Historian 17 (1999) 116-120.

 

  4. EDWARD SCHILLEBEECKX (1914-2009)

 

Edward Schillebeeckx, Christ, The Sacrament of the Encounter with God [Christus Sacrament van de Godsontmeoting, 1959], trans. Paul Barrett, Mark Schoof & Lawrence Bright (Sheed & Ward, 1987).

Edward Schillebeeckx, Mary: Mother of the Redemption [Maria, moeder van de verlossing, 1955]trans. E.D. Smith (New York: Sheed & Ward, 1964).

Edward Schillebeeckx, Marriage: Human Reality and Saving Mystery [Het huwelijk: aardse werkelijkheid en heilsmysterie, 1963], trans. N.D. Smith (New York: Sheed & Ward, 1966)

Edward Schillebeeckx, Revelation and Theology [Openbaring en Theologie] trans. N.D. Smith (New York: Sheed & Ward, 1967).

Edward Schillebeeckx, Jesus: An Experiment in Christology [Jezus, he verhaal van een levende, 1974], trans. Hubert Hoskins (New York: Crossroad, 1979).

Edward Schillebeeckx, Christ: The Experience of Jesus as Lord [Gerechtigheid en liefde: Genade en bevrijding, 1977], trans. John Bowden (New York: Crossroad, 1980). 

Edward Schillebeeckx, Interim Report on the Books ‘Jesus’ and ‘Christ’ [Tussentijds verhaal over twee Jezus boeken, 1978]. trans. John Bowden (London: SCM, 1990).

Edward Schillebeeckx, Ministry: Leadership in the Community of Jesus Christ [Kerkelijk ambt: Voorgangers in de gemeente van Jezus Christus, 1980], trans. John Bowden (New York: Crossroad, 1981).

Edward Schillebeeckx, The Church with a Human Face [Pleidooi voor mensen in de kerk: christelijk identiteit en ambten in de kerke, 1985], trans. John Bowden (New York: Crossroad, 1985).

Edward Schillebeeckx, Church: The Human Story of God [Mensen als verhaal van God, 1990], trans. John Bowden (New York: Crossroad / Herder, 1990).

 

Studies:

Lieven Boeve and Frederiek Depoortere, eds., Edward Schillebeeckx and Contemporary Theology (New York: T&T Clark / Continuum, 2010).

Eric Borgman, Edward Schillebeeckx: A Theologian in His History (New York: T&T Clark, 2005).

Jennifer Cooper, Humanity in the Mystery of God: The Theological Anthropology of Edward Schillebeeckx, T&T Clark Studies in Systematic Theology (New York: T&T Clark, 2011).

Robert J. Schreiter, ed., The Schillebeeckx Reader (New York: Crossroad, 1984).

Robert J. Schreiter & Mary Catherine Hilkert, ed., The Praxis of the Reign of God: An Introduction to the Theology of Edward Schillebeeckx, 2nd ed. (New York: Fordham University Press, 2002).

Robert J. Schreiter, “Edward Schillebeeckx,” in David F. Ford, The Modern Theologians (Oxford: Blackwell, 1989).

Philip Kennedy, Schillebeeckx, Outstanding Christian Thinkers Series (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 1993).

Aloysius Rego, Suffering and Salvation: The Salvific Meaning of Suffering in the Later Theology of Edward Schillebeeckx, Louvain Theological and Pastoral Monographs (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 2006).

Leonard Swindler & Piet F. Fransen, Authority in the Church and the Schillebeeckx Case (New York: Crossroad, 1981).

Daniel Speed Thompson, The Language of Dissent: Edward Schillebeeckx on the Crisis of Authority in the Catholic Church (Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 2003).

 

  6. HENRI de LUBAC (1896-1991)

 

Henri de Lubac, The Mystery of the Supernatural, Milestones in Catholic Theology (New York: Herder & Herder, 1998).

Henri de Lubac, At the Service of the Church: Henri de Lubac Reflects On the Circumstances That Occasioned His Writings, trans. Anne Elizabeth Englund (San Francisco: Communio Books, 1993).

Henri de Lubac, Augustinianism and Modern Theology, Milestones in Catholic Theology (New York: Herder & Herder, 2000).

Henri de Lubac, The Drama of Atheist Humanism, trans. Edith Riley et al. (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1995).

Henri de Lubac, Medieval Exegesis, 3 vol., trans. Mark Sebanc and E.M. Macierowski (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1998, 2001, 2009).

Henri de Lubac, Catholicism: Christ and the Common Destiny of Man, trans. Lancelot C. Shepard (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1988).

Henri de Lubac, Scripture in the Tradition, Milestones in Catholic Theology, trans. Luke O’Neill (New York: Herder & Herder, 2001).

Henri de Lubac, Theology in History, trans. Anne Englund Nash (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1996).

 

Studies:

Hans Urs von Balthasar, The Theology of Henri de Lubac: An Overview (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1991).

David Grumet, De Lubac: A Guide for the Perplexed (New York: T&T Clark, 2007).

Jürgen Mettepenningen, Nouvelle Theologie - New Theology: Inheritor of Modernism, Precursor Vatican II (New York: T&T Clark, 2010).

John Milbank, The Suspended Middle: Henri De Lubac and The Debate Concerning the Supernatural (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2005). 

 

   7. JOHN COURTNEY MURRAY (1904-1967)

 

John Courtney Murray, We Hold These Truths: Catholic Reflections on the American Proposition (reprint of 1960 edition: Lanham, MD: Rowan & Littlefield, 2005).  John Courtney Murray was an American Jesuit who fiercely defended the American constitutional experience of religious liberty and emerged as the primary author of the Council’s Dignitatis Humanae, its “Declaration on Religious Liberty.”  Like other leading theologians of the Council, he clashed bitterly with Alfredo Ottaviani during the 1950s and was silenced on various matters, only to be vindicated at the Council.  The Council’s stand on religious liberty was more than a “development of doctrine”; it marked a reversal of earlier Catholic teaching, and it was Murray who did the historical research and put together the theological arguments to make possible such a stark reversal in church policy. 

John Courtney Murray, The Problem of God: Yesterday and Today (New Haven: Yale University press, 1964).

John Courtney Murray, The Problem of Religious Freedom (Westminster, MD: Newman Press, 1965).

John Courtney Murray, Religious Liberty: Catholic Struggles with Pluralism, ed. Leon Hooper, Library of Theological Ethics (Nashville: Westminster John Knox, 1993).

John Courtney Murray, “On Religious Liberty,” America 109 (Nov. 30, 1963) 704-706.

John Courtney Murray, “The Declaration of Religious Freedom: Its Deeper Significance,” America 114 (Apr 23, 1966) 592-593.

John Courtney Murray, “The Issue of Church and State at Vatican II,” Theological Studies 27 (1966) 580-606.

 

Studies:

Charles Curran, “John Courtney Murray,” in American Catholic Social Ethics: Twentieth Century Approaches (Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 1982).

Thomas P. Ferguson, Catholic and American: The Political Theology of John Courtney Murray (Sheed & Ward, 1993).

Leon J. Hooper, The Ethics of Discourse: The Social Philosophy of John Courtney Murray (Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press, 1986).

D. Thomas Hughson, The Believer as Citizen: John Courtney Murray in a New Context, Isaac Hecker Studies in Religion and American Culture (New York: Paulist Press, 1993).

Robert P. Hunt & Kenneth L. Grasso, eds., John Courtney Murray and the American Civil Conversation (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1992).

Robert McElroy, The Search for an American Public Theology: The Contribution of John Courtney Murray (New York: Paulist Press, 1989).

Keith J. Palvischek, John Courtney Murray and the Dilemma of Religious Liberty (Kirksville, MO: Thomas Jefferson University Press, 1994).

Donald E. Pelotte, John Courtney Murray: Theologian in Conflict (New York: Paulist Press, 1976).

 

   8. HANS URS von BALTHASAR (1905-1988)

 

Hans Urs von Balthasar, The Glory of the Lord: A Theological Aesthetics [Herrlichkeit: Eine theologische Ästhetik, 1961], 7 vol., trans. Erasmo Leiva-Merikakis, ed. Joseph Fessio & John Riches (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1982-1990) hardcover, $40 per volume. Von Balthasar, a conservative thinker of the same generation as Karl Rahner and Yves Congar, has exerted his influence more in the post-Vatican II era.  John Paul II made him a cardinal, and his theological achievements have received more and more appreciation in the English-speaking world as his works have been steadily translated.  Von Balthasar uses an aesthetic rather than a philosophical method; it is both subtle and difficult, as complex as Rahner.  This, like several other of his major works, is a complex multi-volume exploration.

 

• Vol. 1: Seeing the Form (1982)

• Vol. 2: Studies in Theological Style: Clerical Styles (1984)

• Vol. 3: Studies in Theological Style: Lay Styles (1986).

• Vol. 4: The Realm of Metaphysics in Antiquity (1989). 

• Vol. 5: The Realm of Metaphysics in the Modern Age (1990). 

• Vol. 6: Theology: the Old Covenant (1991). 

• Vol. 7: Theology: the New Covenant (1990).

Hans Urs von Balthasar, Explorations in Theology [Skizzen sur Theologie], trans. A. Littledale (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1989-1995), 4 vol.:

• Vol. 1: The Word Made Flesh (1990).

• Vol. 2: The Spouse of the Word (1991).

• Vol. 3: Creator Spirit (199_).

• Vol. 4: Spirit and Institution (1995).

Hans Urs von Balthasar, Mysterium Paschale [Mysterium Salutis Grundriss Heilsgeschichticher Dogmatik] Ressourcement: Retrieval and Renewal in Catholic Thought, ed. David L. Schindler, trans. Aidan Nichols (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans / Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1990).

Hans Urs von Balthasar, Presence and Thought (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1995).

Hans Urs von Balthasar, Theo-Drama: Theological Dramatic Theory. trans. Graham Harrison (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1989-1998), 5 vol.

• Vol. 1: Prolegomena (1989). 

• Vol. 2: Dramatis Personae (1990).

• Vol. 3: Dramatis Personae (1990).

• Vol. 4: The Action (1994).

• Vol. 5: The Last Act (1998).

Hans Urs von Balthasar, Spirit and Fire: A Thematic Anthology of His Writings, trans. Robert J. Daly (Washington, DC: Catholic University of America Press, 2005).

 

Studies:

Nicholas J. Healy, The Eschatology of Hans Urs von Balthasar, Oxford Theological Monographs (New York: Oxford University Press, 2005).

Rodney Howsare, Hans Urs Von Balthasar and Protestantism: The Ecumenical Implications of His Theological Study (New York: T&T Clark, 2005).

Rodney A. Howsare and Larry S. Chapp, How Balthasar Changed My Mind: 15 Scholars Reflect on the Meaning of Balthasar for Their Own Work (New York: Crossroad, 2008).

Medard Kehl & Werner Löser, eds., The Von Balthasar Reader (New York: Crossroad, 1982).

Mark McIntosh, Christology from Within: Spirituality and the Incarnation in Hans Urs Von Balthasar, Studies in Spirituality and Theology, 3 (Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame, 1996).

Kevin Mongrain, The Systematic Thought of Von Balthasar (New York: Herder & Herder, 2002).

Michael Patrick Murphy, A Theology of Criticism: Balthasar, Postmodernism, and the Catholic Imagination (New York: Oxford University Press, 2008).

Aidan Nichols, No Bloodless Myth: A Guide Through Balthasar’s Dynamics (Washington, DC: Catholic University of America Press, 2000).

Aidan Nichols, The Word Has Been Abroad: A Guide Through Balthasar’s Aesthetics (Washington, DC: Catholic University of America Press, 1998).

Aidan Nichols, Say It Pentecost: A Guide Through Balthasar’s Logic (Washington, DC: Catholic University of America Press, 2001).

Edward T. Oakes & David Moss, eds. The Cambridge Companion to Hans Urs von Balthasar (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2004).

Edward T. Oakes, Pattern of Redemption: The Theology of Hans Urs Von Balthasar (New York: Continuum, 1997).

John J. O’Donnell, Hans Urs von Balthasar, Outstanding Christian Thinkers (Collegeville, MN: The Liturgical Press, 1992).

John Riches, The Analogy of Beauty: The Theology of Hans Urs von Balthasar (Edinbourg: T&T Clark, 1986).

Christopher J. Steck, The Ethical Thought of Hans Urs von Balthasar (New York: Herder & Herder, 2001).

 

 

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